John Lennon Songwriting Contest Song of the Year
NEW England Music Awards
Best In State, RHODE Island
WBRU Rock Hunt Champions
The Rare Occasions are an LA-based, New England-bred indie rock band known for their explosive garage rock anthems with catchy vocal harmonies.
Brian McLaughlin (singer) and Luke Imbusch (drummer) have been making music together since their early teenage years. They formed The Rare Occasions while attending college in Boston where they met Jeremy Cohen (bassist). Since then, the band have toured nationally, won the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, and released a vast catalog of music online.
In 2021 the band released their first album as a trio, Big Whoop, which received significant press and radio play. Around the same time, their 2016 track “Notion” went viral on TikTok and continues to make waves, topping Spotify’s viral chart in the US and several other countries, and later landing on Billboard’s alternative charts and top 100 singles charts in the UK, Ireland, and Canada.
They've recently released their 3rd LP, Through Moonshot Eyes, which had 4 singles leading up to it. They’ve garnered radio play across the states, and even in the UK for the new album and have just completed a national headlining tour this fall to support it.